The Road to The Great Opportunity for a Championship

What the flip just happened?

Raise your hand if you had George Mason in the Final Four. Other than the Patriots' improbable run through the Washington bracket, the other three finalists, taken individually, aren't complete surprises. UCLA was a two seed in a wide-open bracket. LSU, despite being a four seed, has perhaps the top one-two frontcourt punch in the nation in Tyrus Thomas and Big Baby. Florida's frontcourt, consisting of Joakim Noah and Al Horford, may be a close second.

But for all four of these teams to be in the Final Four (or, as Dick Enberg calls it, The Great Opportunity for a Championship)? Inconceivable. After the tourney's first weekend, it was looking like this year's Final Four may actually be the first ever to feature all four one seeds. UConn, Duke, Memphis, and Villanova had established themselves quite clearly as the number ones, and all were still alive. First- and Second Round upsets created winnable brackets for all of them. Mid-majors like Bradley, Wichita St., Gonzaga, and George Mason were thrown into the mix to make things interesting, but not given much chance to actually win their regions (except Gonzaga, although those who followed the Zags all year probably placed their odds lower than casual fans).

Truthfully, George Mason, the biggest surprise of this year's finalists, also appears to be the most deserving of being there. The Patriots knocked off Michigan St., a preseason Final Four favorite. They defeated North Carolina, the defending champs. They beat very good Wichita St. team. Then they capped it off with a win over the clear-cut championship favorite UConn Huskies, and they did it convincingly. Their victory was not a fluke; they flat-out outplayed the Huskies. As crazy as it seems, GMU very well could win the whole thing. Why not? Florida is playing very well and has great chemistry, but from top to bottom, Florida is no better talent-wise than three teams George Mason has already beaten.

The other semifinal game has a chance to be very ugly. I'm talking Lorenzo Mata ugly (see above). The UCLA-Memphis regional final was one of the worst displays of basketball I've seen in recent memory. Memphis, a team that usually scores in the 80s, struggled to reach 40. UCLA seemed to have forgotten how to shoot free throws. Gonzaga sat at home and wondered what might have been. Meanwhile, LSU rode their big guys past Texas in another defensive struggle. It's games like these that make me thankful for the shot clock. Otherwise, the UCLA-LSU game might end up something like 38-32.

I realize that trying to predict what will happen in next week's games is a foolish endevour. That said, I would like to see a UCLA-George Mason championship game, with UCLA cutting down the nets. As much as I love the little guys in college basketball, I just don't know if I'm ready for a George Mason national championship. Of course, it's probably going to be an LSU-Florida championship game, which is great if we're talking SEC football. But NCAA basketball?

BStein

The King of One-Upmanship

Everyone knows one of these guys. The type of guy that, no matter what personal experience you may have had, his was always better. Seriously, even if their experiences were better than yours, why do they get off on letting everyone in your group know it? The following are some actual stories, others are not. All names have been changed to protect everyone's identity.

Me: When I was younger my dad took me to the zoo and I got to feed the lions!
Him: That's cool. I went to the zoo once with my dad too and I got to ride a giraffe.

Me: Me and my buddies were messing around shooting hoops the other day. And just before we were getting ready to leave I drained a half-courter!
Him: I can two-hand reverse dunk from the 3-point line.

Me: (whilst playing pick-up tackle football) We played last week and I threw a wicked block on this one guy. I took out his knees and upended him. It was pretty sweet.
Him: Jim Kelly is my Godfather, and he used to call for advice before big games. I was responsible for 2 of his 4 AFC Championships.

Me: I was hanging with my bros at the Coyote Ugly bar in Vegas and I danced with Lindsay Lohan and her friends.
Him: One time when I was in Los Angeles, I ran into P. Diddy and his crew. He invited me to his party that night and I screwed all the dancers from his "Mo Money, Mo Problems" video.

Me: Last St. Patrick's Day I won a drawing for free pitchers the rest of the night!
Him: I piss Miller Lite.

Me: I was once an extra for a small movie shot in my hometown!
Him: Robert DeNiro is my Godfather, and he used my recovery from multiple gunshot wounds as motivation for his role in The Godfather Part II.
Me: I thought Jim Kelly was your Godfather?
Him: What? You're breaking up!
Me: Breaking up? We're not on cell phones. I'm right in front of you.
Him: Pretends to still be on a phone and hangs up.

So if you are near one of these guys just run with it. When he tries to one-up you, just jab right back. See who gives in first. But keep your one-ups somewhat realistic. Wait until he goes way over the line. For example:

Me: My best baseball game I went 2-for-3 with 1 RBI and 3 runs scored.
Him: I once took BP at spring training with the Yankees.
Me: (starting my one-ups) I reached over the fence at the World Series and fell onto the field. I was on TV for a few minutes.
Him: I was a finalist for the $1,000,000 million shot from half court at the NBA All-Star Game. I finished second to a tax attorney from Wisconsin so I wasn't on TV.
Me: I was in a head-on car crash. I was fine because my airbag worked, but the other car wasn't so lucky. I had to pull a mother and her 9-year old child from the car before it burst into flames.
Him: (going too far) I have a time machine. I went back in time and murdered Adolf Hitler. He didn't commit suicide like everyone says. The reason history recognizes his suicide is because, with my time machine, I can also freeze time- like Zack on "Saved By the Bell"- and I rewrote all the history books to say he killed himself. And I changed some other stuff too. Just so it would make sense logistically and chronologically.

So there you have it. Just push as long as you can until he cracks and goes too far. Then he'll look like an ass in front of the group. Once he has left- as he most suredly will since no one will want to talk to such a bold-faced liar- tell all the girls he is not toilet trained.

McB

It's Awesome Baby

The NCAA Tournament really is unlike any other event in American sports. It and the Super Bowl are the only events, I believe, that truly transcend the actual sport and become part of the fabric of the American consciousness. The Olympics may be close, but I don't think I know anyone that actually follows the Olympics with more than casual interest, and they only take place every four years (the Winter Olympics don't really count). Soccer's World Cup may be more important internationally than any American sport, but people in America have never embraced soccer and probably never will. Soccer is for losers. The World Series, Stanley Cup Playoffs, and NBA Championship are fine, but are boring in comparison.

I'll leave the in-depth analysis to the experts, but here are my quick thoughts on this year's bracket, by region:

Atlanta

• Duke has long been my favorite college basketball program. I love Coach K. They consistently win the ACC tournament and earn a 1 seed. And I never pick them to win it all, because you know at some point during the tournament their big guy (in this case, Shelden Williams) is going to get into foul trouble, and they're going to have to have someone like Lee Melchionni in the lineup at power forward.
• Texas has been one of the most inconsisten teams in the country. Still, they have the talent to win it all.
• At mid-season, I thought West Virginia was a Final Four team. Now, I think they could lose in the first round...or be a Final Four team.

Oakland

• This is as wide-open as any bracket. Not necessarily the strongest, but any one of the top five seeds could be in the Final Four and it would not be a complete surprise.
• Memphis is as young and athletic as any team in the tourney. I think their inexperience and lack of discipline will hurt them.
• Gonzaga and UCLA are the top two team in the West, and they are on track to meet in the Sweet Sixteen. The Zags could lose to Xavier, or they could ride Adam Morrison to the Final Four to set up everyone's dream matchup with J.J. Redick and Duke. UCLA won the pathetic Pac-10, but at least they did it with ease.

Washington, D.C.

• UConn is the most talented team in the tourney, and perhaps as talented as any team in recent memory. They are also somewhat inconsistent, and Rudy Gay is too unassertive to be the superstar that he is supposed to be. UConn is the overwhelming favorite to win the whole thing, with good reason.
• The potential North Carolina-Michigan State matchup in the second round is a rematch of one of last year's national semifinal games. Whereas Michigan State's team returned several stars from that team and was expected to be one of the top contenders for this year's championship, North Carolina lost their top seven scorers and were supposed to be entering a rebuilding year. Both have been surprises; UNC has been surprisingly good, while Michigan State has been one of the nation's biggest disappointments.
• This bracket contains the two bubble teams that upset me most. I can now live with Utah State. Air Force's inclusion, however, is unacceptable. The following teams were more deserving than Air Force: Cincinnati, Florida State, Missouri State, Hofstra, Michigan, Maryland, South Carolina, Colorado, UTEP, and Creighton.

Minneapolis

• It will be interesting to see how Allan Ray performs for Villanova after he had his eye pop out of his skull. They're not going to need him in the first round, but Arizona/Wisconsin could be tough. He will have had over a week to recover by then.
• Boston College is playing as well as anyone right now. They looked impressive during their run through the ACC tourney, and took Duke down to the wire in the championship.
• Any one of the top four seeds could win this. Florida and Ohio State performed well in good conferences, but lack star power.

BStein

March Madness All Upside Your Head

Is their really a more exciting time of year than March Madness? I don't believe there is. In fact, I'm pretty sure companies do not get full value out of their employees during the latter part of this month. Here's why:

1. Your sales department is spending at least 3 hours per day filling out an unreasonable amount of brackets.
2. When people schedule appointments or meetings before and/or after lunch, they are probably lying.
3. The reason John has not shaven, and has worn the same clothes for the last week is because he has been kicked out of his house due to the fact that UConn was upset in the first round and he lost his kids' college money.
4. The reverse of No. 3 is also possible - John has not shaven, and has worn the same clothes for the last week because the correct 12-seed won and his pool is saved.
5. People also spend more time on blogs writing about the tournament than they do working.

So for all you NCAA Tourney-Heads out there with full-time jobs; save your vacation time for March and stop wasting your employers' time on basketball. Of course, I will not practice what I preach. I'm actually busy all this week filling out pools.

Go 'Cuse!!!
McB

Summer Concert Schedule
Updated 10 Mar 2006

For my money, I'm not sure there is going to be a concert (or concerts, as it were) better than the upcoming Dave Matthews Band shows in George, Washington. The Gorge is where the band notoriously plays their best shows. And with an opening act like O.A.R. to help them out, how much awesomer can the weekend get.

Said weekend will be starting Friday, September 1 and most likely wrapping up sometime Sunday morning when we wake up and leave. But who knows- anything is possible.

What to look for at the show(s):
1. Sickeningly hot women from ages 18-??? all donning (as my good friend puts it) "sweater puppets."
2. Tons and tons of illegal marijuana. None of which will pass through these lungs. At least not directly. However, I have no control over how much enters in the second hand form.
3. Large amounts of alcohol. Mainly including, but not limited to, beer. Who knows if there will be any flasks floating around.
4. Did I mention there will be some primo trim at this thing?
5. Fun had by all! Drinks, music, good times and best of all- good friends.

So look for us, The Gentlemen (at least one half of us) at the Gorge that weekend. Because we'll be attending more than one show look for us to be pitching a tent. If you know what I mean.

McB

Kicking off what is sure to be an awesome summer of concerts at the Gorge will be a little get-together known as Sasquatch Festival. While this blogger is a bit perturbed by the conversion to a three-day event (as opposed to a single day), the impressive band lineup quickly aleves this irritation. For those unfamiliar with the festival, it consistently features the biggest names in good music. This year's lineup includes (but is not limited to) the following:

The Shins - they'll change your life

The Decemberists - Leaders in the world of poetic literary folk pop

Death Cab for Cutie - What girl wouldn't want to have her heart broken by Ben Gibbard?

Beck - One of the defining artists of the nineties

Tickets are a bit on the expensive side - $55 per day. Camping, also expensive - $40. Food and drinks will be very expensive, and you'll have to wait in absurdly long lines to get them, causing you to miss that Neko Case performance on the Wookie Stage that you have been looking forward to. It will probably be uncomfortably hot. And you know what? You're going to love it.

BStein

The Gentlemen Welcome You to Their Blog
Bobby McBloggington and Blog Bloggerstein have joined the world of blogging. As most people are unaware, 'blog' is from the Greek root word 'eblogora'. Which of course means consistent humor in text form. And those are two things we intend to bring to each of our visitors- text and form.

We thank you for visiting us, and we encourage you to visit us any time. Here is a little bit about us:

Robert "Bobby" McBlogginton is the son of an Irish immigrant's grandson who was a driftwood salesman in Dublin. He has an Associates Degree in Martial Arts, a Bachelors Degree in Fine Wines, and is currently working on his doctorite in Hybrid Mathematical Engineering. He has 2 wives and 5 children. They all live together in Utah and are about to tour the countryside under the name "The New Family Band."

Blog Bloggerstein grew up in the soggy wetlands of Newfoundland. His parents designed and hand-built wooden boats. Seeking to become estranged and escape the rigors of ship-building, Blog left his Canadian life behind and set sail for the green pastures of the United States. He is currently employed in technology and lives in Vermont with his two schnauzers, Gerald and Koomi.

Well, that's about it. A couple dreamers, trying to make a difference in the world. We're just two guys, and we're having a good time. Stay tuned periodically as we seek to enlighten humankind with our wit and wisdom.